Theoretical and Experimental Determination of the Thickness of a Metal Film Grown by Magnetron Sputtering at High Discharge Power

A theoretical model is proposed that allows us to describe the processes of formation of the sputtered atom flow, transport of this flow in the target-substrate space and deposition of the substance onto the substrate during magnetron sputtering. The main difference between the presented model and the existing ones is the combined consideration of the spatial distribution of sputtered atoms and the temperature gradient in the working chamber during magnetron sputtering at high power. To verify the model, real technological parameters of deposition of metal films by magnetron sputtering were used, optimized to achieve a high film growth rate. The agreement between the calculated film thicknesses obtained as a result of modeling and the experimental data was no worse than 5% at discharge powers in the range of 100 – 700 W. Comparison of the experimental data with the simulation results showed that the model adequately describes the sputtering processes at high discharge powers and low pressures, in contrast to approaches that do not take into account the temperature gradient in the working space.